What is Jello made of?

Jell-O consists of four main ingredients: gelatin, water, artificial sweetener, and food coloring. Gelatin gives Jell-O its weird, not-quite-liquid-but-also-not-very-solid structure. Not to gross you out, but gelatin is made up of a kind of a protein called collagen that’s found in cow and pig hides, hooves, bones, and connective tissue. To make Jell-O, this stuff is boiled down, chemicals are added to it, and then the collagen is extracted. Humans also have collagen — it makes your bones, skin, and muscles strong but also kind of elastic. Collagen is the “bend but not break” protein.